NASA shuts down voyager instruments to extend spacecraft's lifespan

NASA switches off the instruments of the farthest spacecraft from Earth to keep it alive

NASA switches off the instruments of the farthest spacecraft from Earth to keep it alive
NASA switches off the instruments of the farthest spacecraft from Earth to keep it alive

Nearly 50 years after they were first launched, Voyager 1 and 2 are still traveling around interstellar space though they've faced some setbacks over the years.

Now, NASA has announced that the twin Voyager spacecraft are losing some of their features in a bid to extend their lifespans in the face of a diminishing power supply, reported Engadget.

On February 25, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) turned off Voyager 1's cosmic ray subsystem experiment and on March 25, it will shut down Voyager 2's low-energy charged particle instrument.

"The Voyagers have been deep space rock stars since launch, and we want to keep it that way as long as possible," said Suzanne Dodd, Voyager project manager at the JPL.

"But electrical power is running low. If we don’t turn off an instrument on each Voyager now, they would probably have only a few more months of power before we would need to declare end of mission," he added

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